truthseeker1990 t1_iv4fb4b wrote on November 5, 2022 at 5:26 AM

Reply to comment by byllz in Why don't we have Neandertal mitochondrial DNA? by nodeciapalabras

I understand some lines will snuff out and some will progress but why would there be exactly one line that survives? Wont you expect a mixture of lines to survive?

byllz t1_iv4g9lr wrote on November 5, 2022 at 5:38 AM

The answer lies in time. In a given period of time, just from random fluctuations there is a chance the number of surviving lines will decrease, based on how many lines are left and the population. So, given enough time, assuming the population doesn't grow, the chance the number of lines will decrease eventually approaches 100% just like theoretically you can flip a coin as many times as you want and always get head, the chance you will eventually get tails approaches 100%